Maharashtra govt announces end of academic year, declares summer holiday

The Maharashtra government has directed all the schools under the state board to end the academic year and declare the summer vacations for the students.

Due to the extension of the nationwide lockdown, the Maharashtra government has announced the end of the academic year for schools under the state board and declared summer vacations for the students.

In a letter address to the education commissioner, the government has asked all the schools to end their academic year 2019-20 and declare summer vacations to students.

"Students from Classes 1 and 9 should be promoted on the basis of their marks in the previous exams held. Schools can accordingly draw up their scores. For the Class 10 SSC exam, the state board would come up with a marking scheme as the last paper - Geography has been cancelled," reads the letter.

Commenting on the move, Principal of an sub-urban school said, "It is indeed a good move by the government to announce summer vacations. Both schools and students were anxious as there was a lot of uncertainty about when schools will reopen. Since exams are cancelled anyway, students can sit at home and start working on the next academic year."

Balbharti, state's publishing bureau has uploaded PDF textbooks for classes 1 to 12 students on its website, to help students keep in touch with their studies during this coronavirus lockdown period.

On Sunday, the state education department had announced the cancellation of Geography and vocational subject papers for children with special needs. After this, the Maharashtra State Board had formed a committee to come up with a revised marking scheme.

“It is becoming impossible to transport answer sheets of Maharashtra SSC Class 10 and Maharashtra HSC 12 exams to the teachers due to the lockdown. A decision on how and when to assess them would be made after the lockdown is lifted,” the letter further adds.